CITY LIMITS

OCTOBER 1979 VOL. 4 NO. 7

GETTING READY FOR WINTER:
WHO WU,I, PAY THE PRICE?
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by Bernard Cohen
With winter fast approaching, preparations for rais-
ing fuel oil prices to homeowners and rents for tenants
in New York City appear to be much farther along than
plans to help buffer hundreds of thousands of the hard-
hit ones from what government officials are calling an
energy-related economic" crisis."
The sharply higher cost of oil-rather than its avail-
ability-and the deteriorated condition of the heating
plants in thousands of city-owned residential buildings
are shaping up as the central cold weather problems for
landlords and tenants. Major oil companies say they
anticipate no serious drop in supplies this winter. Mobil
Oil Co.'s allocation to its dealers in October was 105 per
cent of last year's volume, the first such increase in a
long time. City officials have dispensed with a barge
storage plan devised months ago when fear of shortages
was on everyone's mind.
It is the cost that will be raising havoc this year. The
average price of home heating oil is expected to be 63
cents a gallon this year, compared with 45.5 cents in
WINTER continued
1978. FQr No.2 oil, which is used mostly to heat build-
ings with six to 19 apartments, the September price was
slightly more than 80 cents a gallon (a 60 per cent hike
from a year ago). There is widespread speculation it
could exceed one dollar by the end of winter, although
President Carter has asked the large oil companies to
freeze prices for the balance of the year.
Homeowners and landlords, of course, will feel the
pinch directly. According to the U.S. Department of
Labor, fuel accounted for 13.3 per cent of the mainte-
nance and operating cost of a building in 1967 'com-
pared with 35.7 per cent today. A 25-unit apartment
building using No.6 oil that cost $8,295 to heat in 1978
will cost more than $12,000 this year, according to data
supplied by the Rent Stabilization Association, a land-
lord organization.
The process of passing these costs on to tenants is a
little more cumbersome, but the city has been alert to
the appeals of landlords. Since April, the Rent Guide-
lines Board has added fuel surcharges ranging from 0.5
per cent to 2.5 per cent to 350,000 leases and set near
record rent increases of 8.5, 12 and 15 per cent for an
additional 350,000 one, two and three-year leases.
Moreover, the RGB is considering additional fuel sur-
charges for many thousands of other tenants and will
announce its decisions in late October. Mayor Koch
asked the City Council last June to let landlords raise
the rent of tenants in 350,000 rent controlled apartments
a maximum of five per cent whenever the average deli-
very price of oil rises more than 15 per cent a year.
Tenants in city-owned buildings will not face rent in-
creases due to higher oil prices, according to Deputy
Housing Commissioner Charles Raymond,because "we
haven't worked out a way to restructure the rents."
The steep jump in the price of fuel is expected to
cause extreme hardships for tens of thousands of lower
income homeowners and tenants in New York City.
There are fears that a cold, costly winter could deprive
many of adequate heat and utilities, force them to
choose between food and fuel or leave them vulnerable
to fires started by space heaters or stoves. It might also
spur a new round of building abandonment.
The law says that between October 1 and May 31, an
apartment temperature of at least 68 degrees must be
maintained from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. whenever the outside
temperature falls below 55 degrees, and at least 55 de-
grees from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. whenever the outside temp-
erature falls below 40 degrees.
There are a handful of federal and city programs that
are supposed to assure adequate heat and to help lower
income people offset the increased energy prices. But as
of October 1, there was still uncertainty about federal
funding for several key programs, concern over how
New York City tenants whose fuel costs are incorpor-
ated in their rent will qualify, doubts about how much
of the needy population will be served and many
unanswered questions concerning implementing
2
regulations. Meanwhile, a state interagency task force
appointed several months ago by Governor Carey was
working toward an October 19 deadline for submitting a
state energy plan mandated by the federal government.
"We have nothing releasable at this point," one
member of the task force said on October 4. City offic-
ials appear to have had little input in the plan as of that
date.
Here is a roundup of energy assistance programs and
where they stood on October 1.
ENERGY CRISIS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM-This
program has had four different names and two masters
in the four years it has been in existence. After two years
of being administered by local community action agen-
cies, it will be run this winter by the New York State
Department of Social Services, which had it the first
year.
The purpose of the program is to provide various
forms of assistance to lower income people who face a
crisis due to high energy costs. The assistance includes
payments of up to $400 per eligible household to cover
the payment of fuel/utility costs; the provision of short-
term assistance in the form of fuel supplies, warm cloth-
ing, blankets, replacement of broken windows, tempor-
ary shelter, health and other supportive services; direct
cash assistance of up to $50 where a person has paid a
fuel bill and is in a crisis.
In New York City, "crisis" payments for the winter
of 1977-78 were not made until early 1979. Payments
for the winter of 1978-79 were not made until May of
1979 and were terminated on June 30. Although assis-
tance for 27,700 people was granted during those two
months, thousands of calls came in after the cutoff date
and still close to ,$1 million went unspent, according to
the city's Community Development Agency.
Congress has authorized $250 million for the program
this year, of which New York State expects to receive
roughly $24 million and New York City $1O-to-$14
million, depending on a still uncertain allocation form-
ula. Actual appropriation of the funds has been
delayed, trapped in a dispute between the House and
Senate over providing federal funds for abortion. Pres-
ident Carter has asked Congress for an additional $150
million for the program, which would bring it up to
$400 million. "We are worried about when Congress
will pass on the funds," said one state official. "We are
trying to find out if there is a way the state can advance
the money against future federal income."
The program has a number of other problems, as
outlined by city and state officials. Two factors, the
overall amount of money (when it's available) and the
income eligibility standard, are combined, in the opin-
ion of many, to exclude a lot of the poor and near-poor.
Under the existing regulations, to qualify for the prog-
ram an applicant must earn no more than 125 per cent
of the official poverty income level. A number of city
and state agencies have urged that the figure be raised to
continued on page J 8
THREE DEMONSTRATION
AREAS PICKED BY HUD
HUD has chosen three neighborhoods to launch a
$19.2 million pilot program intended to accelerate hous-
ing rehabilitation and offer ownership to low and mod-
erate income people in New York City.
Combining Section 8 syndication proceeds with Com-
munity Development Block Grant funds, the "demon-
stration" is also an effort to strengthen the linkage be-
tween private developers and community-based organi-
zations.
When the program was announced last summer, offi-
cials said four neighborhoods would be selected and
funds furnished to rehabilitate 600 housing units. In
naming only three neighborhoods, a HUD official cited
a "limitation of funds" due to rehabilitation costs
higher than were originally projected. The total number
of units is still being determined, she said.
The neighborhoods announced by HUD are:
Morris Heights in the Bronx. The community
organization is the Morris Heights Neighborhood
Improvement Association, 1618 Grand Ave. The devel-
oper is Rental and Management Association Corp.,
1619 Third Avenue, Manhattan.
Prospect Heights in Brooklyn. The community
organization is the Prospect Heights Neighborhood
Corp., 279 Sterling Place. The developer is Prospectus
Development Corp., c/o Kings Restorations Corp., 327
Hicks St., Brooklyn.
Clinton in Manhattan. The community organiza-
tion is the Clinton Housing Development Corp., 664
10th Ave. The developer is Related Housing Compa-
nies, 645 Fifth Ave., in Manhattan. The Settlement
Housing Fund is listed as a party in the consortium.
Clinton was not among the seven neighborhoods
listed originally by HUD and HPD as eligible for the
Section 510 Demonstration. It was added reportedly
after community representatives mounted political pres-
sure on the city.
Each neighborhood will have one Section 8 substan-
tial rehabilitation project plus the moderate rehabilita-
tion of additional units nearby using Community De-
velopment Block Grant funds and a slice of the synica-
tion profits from the Section 8 building.
The timetable calls for construction to begin next
spring. 0
Robert Muniz, 41, director of operations and housing
services coordinator for the Melrose Organization for
Community Action in the Bronx, has been appointed
assistant housing commissioner for rent control. He
succeeds Barbara Cohn, who left HPD in September,
citing "personal reasons." 0
3
RAYMOND QUITS HPD
Charles Raymond, a deputy housing commissioner
who has spent the past 18 months managing the city's
vast stock of tax-foreclosed residential properties, has
resigned from HPD, effective November 9.
Raymond, 37, said he was leaving the agency to go
into private industry. Asked to be more specific, he said
the work involved "franchising." Others said the job
involved expansion of several hundred haircutting out-
lets into an international network. He and his family
will be moving to Connecticut.
Raymond came to head a new Office of Property
Management at HPD just as the agency was taking on
the responsibility for managing and maintaining thou-
sands of buildings housing what is now about 33,000 oc-
cupied apartments. He also supervised new alternative
programs, such as an interim lease and community
management, as well as relocation of tenants.
"I feel sad that I'm leaving," Raymond said. "We
began this office with three or four people." He said he
believed he had helped establish a direction for address-
ing the housing problems and had fostered "a reason-
able relationship with communities." His reason for
leaving, he said, is a desire for experience in private
industry.
Raymond, who has worked for the city for 10 years,
was a deputy commissioner for management in the
city's Department of Mental Health prior to coming
over to HPD.
There was no immediate word on his successor. 0
_CITY LIMITS.
City Limits is published monthly except June/ July and August/ Sep-
tember by the Association of Neighborhood Housing Developers,
Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Develop-
ment and the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board. Subscription
rates: $20 per year; $6 a year for community-based organizations and
individuals. All correspondence should be addressed to CITY
LIMITS, 115 East 23rd St., New York, N. Y. 10010. (212) 674-7610
Application to mail at second-class postage rates is pending at New
York, New York 10001.
Editor . .. .. ... . ..... ........................... Bernard Cohen
Assistant Editor .... . . . . . ........ . . .... .......... Susan Baldwin
Design and Layout ...... . ...... .. ... . .... ..... .. . Louis Fulgoni
Business Assistant . .. . ....... . .. . . " ..... .... ..... Carolyn Wells
Copyright 1979. All rights reserved. No portion or portions oj this
journal may be reprinted without the express written permission oj the
publishers.
This issue was funded by New York Community Trust.
Cover drawing by Louis Fulgoni
CITY RENEGES ON $250 SALES POLICY
ASKS FAIR MARKET PRICE
by Susan Baldwin
"I think it's wrong to give someone your word and
get up your courage to stay in a neighborhood, and then
go back on this word. It really isn't fair."
Elsa Guzman, an outspoken young mother of four
grade school children, summed up the hazards of trust-
ing a city policy which is undergoing changes that may
price her out of her affordable, city-owned apartment in
Clinton on Manhattan's West Side. "You know, you
make your commitments to the neighborhood, the
block and your school, and then they tell you to move
out because they can make money."
Guzman is the head of the tenants' association at 459
West 35th Street, one of two dozen buildings in Clinton
and about 200 citywide currently in a city housing pro-
gram that, as projected, would permit tenants in low
income neighborhoods to buy their buildings from the
city for $250-per-unit once they had successfully man-
aged their building for 11 months, using the rent roll to
make repairs and pay for fuel.
Four months ago the city passed this $250 sales
policy, which low and moderate income residents
thought was firm but which is now being eroded in
neighborhoods such as Clinton and Chelsea where there
is political pressure from City Hall to sell the properties
at much higher rates.
City officials have explained the Koch Administra-
tion's apparent reneging on the $250 commitment as
being potentially politically embarrassing if low income
tenants are permitted to buy buildings at low rates and
then turn around and sell them at a much higher profit.
One city housing official, Assistant Commissioner
Philip St. Georges, said that City Hall feels it could be
under fire if it negotiated a 10'" price for the properties,
only to find out that the same land was worth $500,000
as a parking lot.
Critics charge the city with backing down on a
commitment. They say the city worries too much that
low income people will make a profit at the same time it
provides subsidy programs such as the J-51 that encour-
age wealthy developers to become even wealthier. This
year alone the J-51 program rewarded owners with
$74.8 million worth of tax exemptions and abatements.
They also maintain that tenants would have a hard time
making windfall profit since under the guidelines of low
income, non-profit corporations that tenants must form
to buy their buildings, there are strict requirements re-
garding income levels and resale of the properties.
Guzman is one of a large number of housing activists
in Clinton and other neighborhoods attractive to real
estate interests in the city who are concerned that they
4
will be displaced from their homes because the city has
sent them a new form of agreement to sign, making
legal the eventual sale of the buildings at "fair market"
value. These observers are concerned that while the city
may now only be having second thoughts about low
price sales in certain desirable neighborhoods, this
policy of reneging may extend to any neighborhood that
real estate speculators find desirable.
The Board of Estimate unanimously adopted the
$250-per-apartment unit price policy in low and moder-
ate income or Community Development eligible areas at
its July 19 meeting, But ever since then, interim-lease
tenants of buildings, primarily in Clinton, have been re-
ceiving a letter from HPD asking them to sign an agree-
ment that releases the city from the $250 commitment.
The letter, signed by HPD Deputy Commissioner
Charles Raymond, says in part: "If you have success-
fully completed the management period, which will be
determined by HPD, we will initiate discussions with
you to purchase the building. While we cannot give your
group art option to purchase your building at this time
or confirm what the sale price will be, we will give your
group first consideration to purchase the building at a
fair market price to be determined .. . You should be
aware that it is currently HPD policy to sell city-owned
properties located in viable private market areas at
market value. Such market value may be determined by
appraisal, public auction, or some other mechanism to
be determined by HPD at a later date."
"As far as we are concerned, this letter kills the in-
terim lease buildings," said Sondra Thomas, director of
the Clinton Housing Development Corporation, one of
the non-profit housing groups helping neighborhood
tenants in their struggle to preserve their housing. "And
if you look at it even more closely, it sounds as if they're
getting ready to kill the other alternative programs.
"What they are really suggesting is that the interim
lease is a Mickey Mouse program-in order to be in it
you have to have an A-I building and an A-I tenants'
organization that's willing to work hard to make it suc-
ceed," Thomas said. "And then there are no guarantees
that your good work will payoff."
Five buildings on West 46th and 48th Streets in Clin-
ton that were pioneers in the interim lease program are
before the local community board for review of their
land use plans. If there are no problems with their appli-
cations, the buildings could be sold to the tenants within
the next few months at the $250-per-unit price.
But three other buildings-455, 457, and 459 West
35th Street-that were part of this original package to
be submitted to the community board have been stalled
in HPD, although the required paper work on them was
completed at the same time by the tenants.
After talking to a number of HPD officials, including
former Commissioner Nathan Leventhal, City Limits
confirmed the existence of the fair market letter and
also learned that the West 35th Street properties were
not on the community board's agenda. Leventhal is cur-
rently deputy mayor.
"They did everything they were asked to do. There
was nothing defective about their ULURP [Uniform
Land Use Review Plan] application," said Bruce Sykes,
director of sales in HPD's alternative management unit.
"It's true that they are located a few blocks away from
the proposed convention center, and I guess someone
had a problem about selling them the buildings for $250
. .. I don't know of any particular planned development
for that area, but I do know that a report was prepared
and sent to former Commissioner Leventhal." The con-
vention center is planned for the area bounded by West
33rd to 37th Streets and West Street to Tenth Avenue.
Asked to comment on the "fair market" sales policy,
Leventhal said, "We have said four times over that our
general policy is to sell buildings for $250 per apart-
ment. At the same time, there are exceptions, and we re-
serve the right to negotiate a price." Raymond calls
$250-per-unit "a guideline."
Elsa Guzman and James French, of 316 West 36th
Street, head of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens of
Clinton, have other answers to negotiating prices.
"I can't afford $20,000 for this apartment, and I
won't pay it any way," argued Guzman, who has vowed
that she will not move.
5
"It's ridiculous for them to come down here and tell
us we have to sign this agreement," French complained.
"It' s totally written to protect HPD. In the meantime,
they' re telling us, 'If you don't do this or tell us about
that , it 's your responsibility. ' Where does the buck
stop? We make all the repairs, and then they sell the
building out from under us."
According to French and others who attended a
heated Clinton town meeting with Mayor Koch in late
August , the subject of fair market rents was rai sed and
the mayor said the administration would not permit
tenants to buy apartments for $250 and then turn-- a
profit. At that meeting he also said that certain Clinton
properties were worth more than $250 a unit and should
be sold for more.
Tenant outrage at this assertion was still echoing in
the question Elizabeth Cuevas. of 433 West 46th Street
asked a recent visitor. "The city gave up on this building
a long time ago, so why are they telling us that the price
should be different," Cuevas demanded to know. Hers
is one of the five buildings before the community board
to be considered for sale to the tenants.
" The only reason we're here is because of the work
we've done, and the only help we got was the rent
money," Cuevas said. She and other Clinton residents,
although fearful of losing their properties to outside real
estate interests, are committed to staying in their neigh-
borhood.
"When someone comes in here snooping around and
asking who the owner is, I just chase them away,"
Cuevas laughed.
"There is a lot of work to be done on our buildings,
and we've been doing it all by ourselves. No city help,"
continued on page 13
GROWTH: AN AGENDA FOR THE 1980'S
If the preoccupation of community-based organizations in the 1970s was the painful process of getting started,
the pressing issue of the 1980s is likely to be how well groups control and manage their growth. A two-part series
on growth concludes this month in City Limits. Part I looked at the ways community organizations have grown
and how expansion has affected both the administration and the mission of groups. Part II identifies some posi-
tive and negative forces that influence growth, examines the roles government, technical assistance agencies and
foundations play and suggests recommendations for helping organizations take more control of their development.
by Bernard Cohen
"When you've starved for a long time, you remember
that, so when the money comes around it's hard to say
no. You don't want to say no because maybe you'll need
it tomorrow. "
The temptation to say yes to funding is considerable
for most community-based organizations in lower
income neighborhoods, where "tomorrow" is dreaded
until it actually arrives. The frustrations, the insecurity
and the fear of failure over years of struggling to estab-
lish themselves have left a lasting impression on these
organizations-as Harry DeRienzo, director of a
growing South Bronx group-describes so vividly. To-
gether they spell desperation, a panic that time is being
lost and that doing something is better than doing noth-
ing. Meanwhile, government is finally turning out a mix
of programs after years of all but ignoring the achieve-
ments and potential of these organizations.
A new set of choices are presenting themselves, and at
least some community group directors and other experts
are coming to the conclusion that saying no or at least
maybe may be the healthiest answer if the program that
is being offered is beyond their capability, unrelated to
their primary activities, poorly designed or inadequately
funded. It is an attempt to control growth internally,
based on a new awareness of the awesome impact pro-
grams have on organizations.
"The failure of most organizations is that they take
on too much' too soon. Something breaks down," said
Margaret McNeill, executive director of the West Har-
lem Community Organization. " You can't reach out for
every grant available. We have turned down some
things. I'm at the point where .. . if it meant writing a
proposal for a new program, we would not be encour-
aged to seek those funds."
This line of thinking is confined to a relatively small
number of organizations. Most groups are still in the
stage of responding to resources, what one community
leader calls "growth related to crisis."
For example, New York City's housing agency turned
down about 35 applications for the community manage-
ment program-in which non-profit organizations
manage city-owned buildings under contract-.because
the groups were not qualified or otherwise not eligible.
"What some groups do is the buckshot approach,"
meaning that they submit one proposal for many pro-
grams, hoping to score with one, said Asst. Commis-
6
sioner Philip St. Georges. " I would characterize it as
'going fishing.' " Other examples are not hard to find:
Before its near collapse, the People's Development
Corp. in the South Bronx was running at least 11 differ-
ent programs using funds from four federal agencies,
two state agencies, two city agencies and numerous
private sources, most of them acquired in the past two
years.
After 10 years of tightly controlled growth, the Bed-
ford Stuyvesant Restoration Corp., one of the largest
and most sophisticated community-based organiza-
tions in the country, took over a job recruitment pro-
gram this year. Since job recruitment was not a priority
of Bedford Stuyvesant and since the takeover created
hard feelings with the neighbor organization that had
been running the program, the move puzzled some who
saw it as a reflex inconsistent with past practices.
The South Bronx Community Housing Corp. has a
$1.7 million contract to manage 236 units of city-owned
housing. SBCHC's president says the organization does
community management because the program is avail-
able, but that given the choice he would probably do a
different housing activity with the money.
Housing Conservation Coordinators in Manhattan
offers a legal clinic, sponsors a food cooperative, has
two solar demonstration projects going and provides a
boiler repair training course, in addition to its housing
duties. "Our question is one of focusing as opposed to
problems of expansion," said one staff member.
Representatives of other groups told similar stories of
taking on programs they were less than thrilled with for
survival. "We respond to events instead of having clear,
thought out plans about what we want to do and the
way we want to go," said one. Another said, "We don't
control the total process. We depend on HPD for pro-
grams, on HUD for brick and mortar and others for
financing. Unfortunately, we have to react to what
exists, we grow as a result of our involvement with what
exists. "
Community organizations are faced with a whole new
set of growth problems which up to now have been a
relatively silent issue. "What has happened is that to
some extent, a lot of us, and individuals in government
who are supportive, have not raised critical issues when
we should have," said Ron Shiffman, director of the
Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environ-
mental Development. He and others said that pressure
for productivity, the constant need to prove the validity
of neighborhood-based efforts to foundations and the
government and fears that one failure could tar the
whole movement had fostered an overprotectiveness
and inhibited their ability to face such problems square-
ly.
One of the most serious problems for organizations
has been that government contracts usually do not cover
the full cost of running the programs, leaving the group
to make up the difference out of its own often meager
budget. Since there is no standardization among govern-
ment agencies, groups with multiple contracts have their
hands full meeting complicated financial and program
reporting obligations that have varying deadlines, some-
times inconsistent rules and differing performance stan-
dards-often without sufficient funds to do the job.
"A small community group that might have grants
from DHCR (state Division of Housing and Commun-
ity Renewal), CET A, Division for Youth, HPD (city
Housing Preservation and Development) and commun-
ity management and a staff of five or six might have to
undergo four audits in one year," said Bernard
McDonald of the Ford Foundation. "General Motors
doesn't undergo four audits in one year."
A study last year by the Greater New York Fund
found that for every $100 in government funding, vol-
untary agencies have to spend an additional $16.40 of
their own money to meet indirect costs not covered by
the contract. Dr. Nelly Hartogs, who headed the study,
said the amount today is probably closer to $20.
The study cited a series of non-reimbursed, indirect
administrative costs such as expenses from having to ad-
just bookkeeping procedures to meet government re-
quirements, chronic delays in receiving payments and
administrative time needed to insure continuation of the
funded program.
The conclusion of that study was borne out in inter-
views with directors of community organizations and
government officials. "No business organization would
expend the dollars that both the federal and state
governments have done without sufficient funds for
middle management," said Sybil Phillips, a HUD offi-
cial familiar with contracts to community-based
housing organziations. "Unfortunately, contracts
provide for deliverables, not management funding."
Hartogs said voluntary organizations need to be
much better prepared when they sit down to negotiate a
contract. "Voluntary agencies are not sophisticated
enough nor do they take a business approach to what
they are doing. They are so anxious to get the govern-
ment contract and see those green dollars that they
accept and sign a contract without knowing what's in
it," she said.
The emphasis by funding sources on supporting "new
and innovative" projects also pushes groups into taking
on new activities they may not need or want. "No one
wants to give money to sustain efforts under way," said
Shiffman."Groups have to find a new way to package
their activities or change what they are doing. It's a
stupid game."
The potential for subtle manipulation by founda-
tions, technical assistance agencies or consultants is also
cited as a danger. They may be more interested in pro-
moting their own agendas than in responding to what
the group really wants. If it means funds, the group may
go along. "It is hard for a group to say no when clearly
if they say yes they stand a good chance of getting the
money," said Nancy Castleman, grants administrator
of the Fund for the City of New York, a foundation. "It
takes a fair amount of sophistication to say no."
continued on page 19
drawing by Dan Stern
HUD OKAYS $269.9 MILLION CD5 PLAN
by Brian Sullivan
HUD has announced approval of New York City's
$262.9 million CD Year 5 application, attaching only
minor conditions. This continues HUD's historic aver-
sion to strongly challenge or take any substantive action
to change the CD program in light of citizen complaints.
The CD 5 figure includes more than $21 million in un-
spent funds carried over from CD 4, which ended Aug-
ust 31.
There are some conditions cited by HUD in its ap-
proval that are worth noting, for better or for worse.
Among them are constructive requirements that the city
submit a more detailed Economic Development Strate-
gy;further refine its target areas within the 10 neighbor-
hoods already designated CD Neighborhood Strategy
Areas; designate four specific Section 8 NSA neighbor-
hoods as CD NSA's so that there is geographic uniform-
ity under these two programs; and implement its new
Equal Employment Opportunity Program by
September 30, 1979.
On the weak side, the city will not be required to meet
the minimal HUD requirement that five per cent of its
stated housing needs be addressed in CD 5, nor will it be
allowed to offer Section 312 rehabilitation loans in cer-
tain CD-eligible areas, despite having advertised to the
contrary. Details of these and other conditions follow:
Economic Development-The CD 5 application con-
tains no clear economic development strategy that ad-
dresses issues of unemployment or long-term impact on
neighborhood economies. Instead, the city has opted
for a shopping list approach, stating that it will take up
to two years to formulate a strategy. HUD wants it next
year.
CD NSAs-Ten neighborhoods have been approved
as CD NSAs, but the city must further refine its target
areas within these neighborhoods by April 30, 1980.
Paradoxically, these neighborhoods are being denied
certain resources on the grounds that as CD NSAs they
are eligible for special CDtargeting. At the same time,
the NSA assistance has yet to materialize because of a
weak commitment by HPD. Catch-22.
Section 8 NSAs-Four neighborhoods that are tar-
geted for extra Section 8 funds are not designated as CD
NSAs. They are Far Rockaway in Queens, Crown
Heights in Brooklyn and Hamilton Heights and Gate-
way to Harlem in Manhattan. HUD wants them named
CD NSAs next year.
Adequate Resources-The designation of additional
CD 6 NSAs will depend upon adequate resources being
available after In Rem, NSA and other prior commit-
ments are met. The city has publicly committed itself
to phasing in 10 to 12 new NSAs this coming year.
Chairman Robert Wagner of the City Planning Com-
Brian Sullivan is asenior planner a/the Pralllns/i/ute
Center for Community and Environmental Develop-
8
mission is reported to oppose a formal selection of a
second round of NSAs, however.
Target-Certain activities must be targeted to CD
NSAs: unsafe building demolition and seal-up; facade
and street improvements; street repairs; community arts
development programs; historic preservation; Section
312 loans.
Public Services-Public services begun outside NSAs
will continue through CD 5 after which all new public
services must be within designated NSAs. This means
eligibility for one more year of Model Cities areas in the
Bronx, Harlem, East Harlem and Central Brooklyn.
In Rem-Use of CD funds for city-owned buildings is
approved, but the city must continue to consolidate par-
tially occupied buildings, reduce the intake of new In
Rem buildings and pay all fuel, utility, vesting and dis-
position costs froto its own funds, not CD. The first two
points play into the hands of Mayor Koch and his .
"planned shrinkage" policies.
Section 312-Although the city has been advertising
the availability of low interest Section 312 rehabilitation
loans in any CD-eligible area, HUD says they must be
restricted to the following areas: federal urban home-
steading areas; federal urban renewal and NDP areas;
CD NSAs; Section 8 NSAs; REMIC areas and Neigh-
borhood Preservation Program areas. This leaves out
other neighborhoods that could effectively use 312 loans.
Benefits-The city's CD 5 plan is "presumed" to
principally benefit low and moderate income people
since the application budgets 94 per cent of the CD 5
funds to low and moderate income areas and/ or activi-
ties. Examples of programs cited as not benefitting such
households are: Participation Loans, 20 per cent;
Article VIII-A Loans, 15 per cent; Sweat Equity Loans,
13 per cent; HPD project support, 16 per cent; aleigh-
borhood commercial revitalization, 27 per cent.
Housing Needs-HUD requires cities to compile their
housing needs and take steps to address five per cent of
them in CD 5. New York City claims it cannot do better
than four per cent, and HUD has caved in. The city's
claim is a farce in light of the fact that it has actually
spent only 45 per cent of the $580 million in CD funds it
has received since 1975.
Equal Employment-The city must implement its
new Equal Employment Opportunity program by
September 30, 1979.
Expenditures-The city must reprogram funds out of
slow-moving programs into more productive programs
to remedy its disappointing overall expenditure rate.
Citizen Participation-The city must inform the
public-now or when is not made clear-of all of the
above as well as any other changes or clarifications
related to CD 5. 0
ment a n ~ director oj the New York City Housing and
Community Development Coalition.
COUNCIL EYES RENEWED J-51 PLAN
FOR EVEN BIGGER TAX GIVEAWAY
by Susan Baldwin
A city program that in 1979 will reward owners who
rehabilitate buildings for multi-unit housing with $74.8
million worth of tax exemptions and abatements could
be a still bigger giveaway in years to come, if City Hall
has its way.
But, City Council insurgents have mounted a chal-
lenge to the city's business-as-usual proposal to extend
from 12 to 32 years owners' exemption from increased
tax assessments and to swell tax abatements from 90 to
100 per cent of owners' costs.
These critics charge that Section J-51 of the city's
administrative code, which governs the tax-incentive
program, is already too generous to owners whose
development plans drive out small businesses from loft
buildings made into apartment houses, and force low
and moderate income residents, including
occupancy (SRO) tenants, to leave their homes. The
present law expires December .31,. 1981, unless re-
enacted.
The proposed legislation, Intra. 751, went before the
Council's Housing and Maintenance Committee in mid-
August and could be voted on by the full Council before
the end of October. It seeks to amend New York City's
administrative code in three principal ways: (1) It would
permit a 32-year real estate tax exemption plus an abate-
ment for moderate rehabilitation of occupied multiple
dwellings; (2) it would limit to 50 per cent the tax abate-
ment for conversions of non-residential (commercial)
buildings to multiple dwellings; and (3) it would in-
crease certified reasonable costs eligible for abatement
up to 100 per cent.
If approved, the new legislation would be extended
until December 31,1984.
The insurgent alliance of Council members hopes to
amend the bill to protect low and moderate income ten-
ants and small businesses from displacement. Until
now, the reformers have not been able to modify or
block housing proposals of the Koch administration in
the Council.
According to a financial report prepared for the
Council, the city's total J-51 tax exemption and abate-
ment costs for 1979 are estimated at $74.8 million.
In addition to the 32-year real estate tax exemption on
the increased property valuation resulting from the
rehabilitation, the ,owner, under the proposed legisla-
tion, would be permitted a 20-year abatement for the
"certified reasonable cost" at 100 per cent value, to be
computed, as current law provides, at 8Y3 per cent,
equalling about 95 per cent of the actual rehabilitation
cost.
How the change might payoff for the owner of a 41-
9
unit, five-sto!y walkup can be seen in this example
drawn from figures provided by one of the dissident
Councilmembers. At current tax rates, without either
exemption or such an owner would pay
$245,000 in property taxes over a 20-year period on an
assessed valuation of $140,000.
Under the present J-51 system, if his cost is certified
at $185,000 and the rehabilitation has raised his assess-
ment from $125,000 to $140,000, the owner pays only
$73,075 in the same period, a tidy saving of $171 ,925.
But a real bonanza awaits the owner who gets a J-51
under the proposed scheme. He would pay a mere
$5,524 in 20 years, all of that in the last year. His tax
saving (and cost to the city in lost taxes) would be
$239,475, or nearly 98 per cent of all potential taxes on
the property.
Although the opponents believe that certain of these
proposed changes in the J-51 provision are small steps in
the right direction-for instance, requirements that the
tax abatements may not exceed taxes owed for a 12-
month period and that claims of fraudulent improve-
ments will be challenged-they are still concerned that
the law will not serve neighborhoods and small owners
that should benefit from its provisions.
"What has been happening on the East Side on 78th
and 67th Streets, for example, is offensive," said Coun-
cilwoman Jane Trichter (D-Man.) at a recent Council
hearing. "These are perfectly habitable buildings where
the landlords are making significant profits and driving
out tenants, and then the landlord is renting a one bed-
room box at $200 more per month."
Trichter and others have questioned the legislation's
definition of "moderate rehabilitation," noting that
there is no provision in the law that protects tenants
while work is allegedly being done with the tenants in
residency.
They have also pointed out that well-maintained SRO's
are an important housing resource for the working poor
and elderly and are, in fact, a housing option that has
served thousands of New Yorkers for years.
SRO Housing Crisis
Commenting ..on the crisis in SRO housing stock,
Stephanie Glickman of the Murray Hill SRO Project,
said during the Council hearing, "This crisis has been
precipitated by J-51 ... SRO is the preferred housing of
choice here ... Since 1975, we have lost 15,000 units.
And with almost no vacancy in low-cost housing, there
will definitely be an increase of bag ladies and bag
gentlemen.' ,
Glickman and other supporters ofSRO housing are
continued on page /6
I
ADMINISTRATION
DEPUTY COMMISSIONER
William Elmicke 2293
RELOCATION
OPERATIONS
ASST.COMt-4
Manuel Mirabal"
3930,3931
Urbln Aenew.l.nd
Property M.nagemenl
Public: Improvement
RetOCItion
Emergency Housing
Aclhl_
I
FISCAL AFFAIRS

1
OFFICE OF
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
OEPUTY COMMISSIONER
5610, 4983.
MANAGEMENT
OPTIONS
ASST,COMM.
Philip St. Georges'
0582, 0584
Community M.nagem.nt
So,"
"'teJlm L Prog,..m
"75 Malden Lane
I
MOT. SERVICESI
INFO. SYSTEMS
DIRECTOR
Andrew Cooper 2356
IN REM PROPERTY
MANAGEMENT
ASST. COMM.
Charles J. Poldomanr
1820,1821
In-R.m Property (II of 811178)
Management
MaIn 0ftIce-100 Gold Str"'
CITY UMlTSIOctober 1m
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING PRESERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
I
INSPECTOR
GENERAL
George Dole
54541
REHABILIATION
ASST. COMM.
Joff Heintz
0620
,.rtlclpatlon LOins,
SHIP, Section 312 LOIn,
JS1 TIll. Ex.mptlonl
T,x Aba;t.ment
421 T EXlmptlon
COMMISSIONER
Anthony Glleclnwn
566-2324
OPERATIONS
DEPUTY COMMISSIONER
Roliirt 0..,10 8841
I
OFFICE OF
DEVELOPMENT
DEPUTY COMMISSIONER
To Be Announced 6557
. .
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
ASST. COMM.
Charles Reiss
5146
Community Service
Neighborhood P,. .. rvltlon
A,.. OffiCI
ProjKt Pt.nnlng
Protect Denfopmenl
lind AcquIII_ end
AppIo/II"
De.. 1 s..I-Up MIMI

HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
1-----1
CORPORATION (HOC)
I
I EXEC. DIRECTOR
I ------________________ J
480-1203
I
L---J
REHABILITATION MORTGAGE I
INSURANCE CORP. (REMIC)
EXEC. DIRECTOR Roger Simon
I
.25-9351
POLICY AND GOVERNMENT
RELATIONS
DEPUTY COMMISSIONER
Ronald Marl nO' 5b3s
I I
GENERAL EQUAL PROGRAMl
COUNSEL OPPORTUNITY MGMT. ANALYSIS
Robert Robbin ASST. COMM. EXEC. DIRECTOR
2310 Lilla long 2486 Bruce Gould 6125
I
RENT STABILIZATION ASSOC. OFFICE OF
RENT GUIDELINES BOARD RENT AND HOUSING MAINTENANCE
CONCILIATION & APPEALS BD.
--
(Independent Bodle.)
HOUSING
SUPERVISION
ASST. COMM.
Ruth Lerner
6478
M.nllgem.nt Supel'Ylslon
Rent.1 Subsidies and
Section 8 Contracts

MltchellLama RetlNlnclng
Technical SeMC .. Bure.u
EVALUATION
AND COMPLIANCE
ASS'.COMM.
Joseph Shuldiner
5800
Article IA lOina
Volunt.ry Agreementa
Recel.,.,..hlp
Housing lItiglUon Bure.u
ERP Recoupment
M.Nlgement AIMt'naUMI
Cwnoll C--"", UnIt
DEPUTY COMMISSIONER
Danlol Joy ' 1037
CODE
ENFORCEMENT
ASST. COMM.
Frank Oell 'Alra
6974
Houalng Code and Other
InapecUon.
Cent ... 1 Complaint
Emergency Repair Program
Demolition I SealUp
RENT CONTROL
Robert Muniz
5076 (110 Church St.)
Maximum Ba.. Rent
Traditional Rent
AdJu.tment.
EYlctions
Hardlhip and Rlnt
StNcturlng
Pro ....
LltIp_
E ..... _
_ C __
_ Ea__
___ lIlI
---.....,
SMALL BUILDING?
LOOK BEFORE YOU LEASE
by Joan M. Brinton
Many tenants find the idea of living in large apart-
ment buildings cold and dehumanizing. They are con-
vinced there exists a stock of owner-occupied brown-
stones kept in perfect condition by landlords who con-
sider their buildings as homes rather than as investments
and who are looking for good tenants who will
appreciate their buildings rather than a fast turnover of
tenants who can pay whatever the market will bear.
These are often the same people who believe that
Manhattan still has a score of fine French restaurants
where dinner with wine costs less than ten dollars.
When Mike Weaver moved to Greenwhich Village in
1977 he wanted to live in a small building because he
thought it would be "like a nice pseudo-family environ-
ment." He was happy when he found an owner-occu-
pied four-family home on West II th Street, although he
thought $390-a-month a bit high for a dark studio.
After two years of helping his elderly landlady in vari-
ous ways, of sharing meals and fixing things, he was
shocked when she refused him a three-year lease, then a
two-year lease and finally said the rent would have to
go to at least $450. When he replied that the price
seemed steep but that he did not want to ruin a friend-
ship over a few dollars, she said that it was "a few hun-
dred" and threatened to make his life miserable.
Weaver said she soon gave him two months to vacate so
that she could move into his apartment and rent out her
own for $1,000.
Kathy Casey took an apartment in a five-unit building
in Chelsea two years ago. Her studio is tiny, but the sun-
deck and friendly landlady of 50 years sold her on the
building. Within six months, she said, the landlady had
sold the building, and the sundeck had rotted beyond
the edge of safety. She said she kept on asking the new
owners to fix it and even went to a lumberyard for an
estimate. The owners thought her $500 estimate too
high but promised to attend to it soon. Casey was reluc-
tant to call the city's housing agency and complain be-
cause "it sounded like such a middle class problem, my
sundeck is so rotten I can't use it, when others have no
heat or hot water. But my apartment is small, and the
deck was like another room in good weather."
The owners finally tore out the rotten wood and re-
tarred the surface, but they never replaced the deck or
the fence, according to Casey. Left with sticky tar and
an unusable terrace after two years of patient efforts,
and then hit with a $50 rent increase, Casey refused to
pay anything until the deck was replaced. A short time
later she was served with an eviction notice.
Many New York City neighborhoods are lined with
II
small buildings, ranging from old-law tenements to
classic limestones. They have an appeal that easily ob-
scures the special problems confronting tenants who
prefer life at a smaller scale.
The majority of tenants in New York City live in rent
controlled or rent stabilized apartments for which r ' ~ n t
and other important conditions of tenancy are regulated
by law. However, these protections do not extend to
260,000 residential apartments (14 per cent of the rental
housing stock), most of which are in buildings with five
or fewer units. With two exceptions, landlords of small
buildings have the freedom to set rents at whatever level
they want, raise them whenever they please, refuse to
issue leases and evict tenants with just 30 days' notice.
Only the dwindling number of apartments with rent con-
trolled tenants and the increasing number of buildings
rehabilitated with the benefit of city tax abatement pro-
grams are subject to regulations.
In general, harassment of tenants in small buildings
is not uncommon and is often intensified by the proxim-
ity of the feuding parties. Also, it often takes longer to
arrange a city inspection of small buildings, and city
lawyers are reluctant to pursue a contempt proceeding
against a landlord when four tenants are affected in-
stead of ISO.
"Small buildings are purely bad news-dangerous,"
said Sharon Gray, director of social services for the Car-
ing Community, an agency that advocates for senior
citizens. "I'd rather be protected by the law then rely on
someone else's goodness."
Her agency recently tried to help a Brooklyn couple
whose landlord wanted their rent controlled apartment
for relatives. When a judge threw the case out because
the family already had taken over both the other rentals,
the landlord decided not to wait for the terminally ill
tenant to die. According to Gray, he bought two savage
German Shepherd dogs and installed them on the
tenants' landing. This traumatized the elderly couple,
unable to leave the apartment for food or medicine. But
the plan backfired when the dogs attacked family mem-
bers. The landlord did win the apartment when the wife
died and the husband became afraid to stay in the build-
ing alone, Gray said.
"When it's one or two people against a whole family,
it can get pretty rough," said Mary Schneider, an organ-
izer with the St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation
and Housing Rehabilitation Corp. in the Williamsburg
section of Brooklyn. She said she knows of cases where
children were thrown down stairs, utilities cut off and
street gangs encouraged to move into a building to force
continued on page 20
CAR ENGINES TO SOLAR ENERGY:
'I COULD TRY ANYTHING'
by Selwyn Eiber
When Joan Altman was 16 years old and still attend-
ing high school in White Plains, N.Y., her hobby was
buying old, beat up cars and repairing them. Mostly,
she concerned herself with basic maintenance work such
as replacing shock absorbers or setting:he gap on spark
plugs so they would fire properly. Occasionally, Altman
would buy automotive manuals and giver her cars tune-
ups. During her senior year she bought a '64 Opel for a
hundred dollars that "had a lot of problems." One
problem was that the ball joints on the wheels had to be
installed so she figured out how to do that and drove
off. "I thought I had them in right," says Altman,
"and then the wheels caved in. I stuck them back in and
went for another two miles but they caved in again. I
spent so many hours trying to do it right and I'm sure it
took only fifteen minutes for someone who knew what
he was doing. But I was arrogant in those days. I could
try anything."
Still taking chances, Altman, 26, is now being trained
for a career in a new field whose future is both bright
and uncertain. She and 11 men make up a crew that is
learning how to install solar energy collectors on single-
family homes and multiple dwelling buildings through-
out New York City. Providing the training is the Energy
Task Force, a non-profit, technical assistance organiza-
tion which focuses primarily on solar energy uses for
low income housing. The crew will complete twelve sys-
tems in all, ten hot water and two space heating, under a
$467,000 project called SUEDE (Solar Utilization/ Eco-
nomic Development and Employment). Bob Bedell, the
project coordinator for ETF, said SUEDE was the only
large scale, intensive training program for solar instal-
lation in New York City. And no one is more proud to
be a part of it than Altman.
To hear Altman describe how much she enjoys work-
ing in this relatively new field of installing solar systems,
one would think that this match-up of the right person
for the right job is the stuff fairy tales are made of. Her
face lit up when she said that "it's incredible having a
job where I can think things out and produce. I can't
imagine a job that would be righter. And then doing
something with solar that lets people pay less for oil and
heat. And then doing something for low income people
is the icing on the cake."
In mid-September, Altman and the other five solar
mechanics on her crew had just completed work on their
first installation, a hot water system for a single family
home in Springfield Gardens, Queens. Altman was
again working on a single-family, this time in East Elm-
hurst, Queens where she was busy installing the hot
water tank in the basement, and connecting and solder-
ing the pipes which would run up to the collector panels
on the roof. In the upcoming months, Altman will con-
struct and mount metal racks which will hold the col-
lectors, attach the collectors to the racks and connect
the plumbing.
Despite the fact that Altman appears comfortable
with her work and jokes easily with the men on the
crew, she is very much aware of the added difficulties
surrounding the job because she is the only woman on
the crew. "Sometimes I get real frustrated," admits
Altman. "Maybe someone else could pull a stuck pipe
fitting off with his hands and I can't. I have to use a
couple pairs of channel locks. I can do the same job as
them but I have to use tools . That doesn't mean I can't
do it."
12
Tightening a mixing valve on a hot water tank in the basement.
Nevertheless, Altman, who is five-feet tall , believes
that the men on the .crew occasionally try too hard to
help if she appears to be struggling. "Sometimes people
take tools or a fitting right out of my hands and I have
to stop them. If I ask for help that's another matter."
But this chivalrous zeal oh the part of the crew has
diminished almost to the point where Altman is con-
sidered just one of the boys. When Dave Bellach, a solar
mechanic on the crew, was asked how he felt about
teaming up with a woman he said, "I hadn't noticed.
People work; people work." Richard Day, another
solar mechanic, put the situation in perspective saying,
"We're all here for one purpose: helping each other."
Yet despite the occasional unwanted extra help, she is
elated to be working as a solar mechanic especially after
a string of full-time and part-time secretarial positions.
Altman, who was born in Newark, N.J., would some-
times earn extra money building loft beds or bookcases
in between the courses she was taking at Brooklyn
College. She has never had a regular job in the construc-
tion trades, although last March, she waited on line at
.!!l
Qj
3
=
...
'0
..
.,
u
$
<Il
.s
Q
-=
Q"
Solar mechanics, left to right: Dennis Martinez, Bill Riley (SUEDE
construction supervisor), Dave Bellach, Joan Altman and Richard
Day.
four a.m. to apply for the carpenter's union. Her
number was so high that she didn't think she would be
hired for at least two years. However, she was persistent
in seeking out opportunities listed at employment agen-
cies, which is where she first heard of the solar mechanic
training course offered by ETF.
Altman, who is hard working and extremely optimis-
tic about solar energy, thrives on the challenge of learn-
ing a new career. When she fiI:st interviewed at ETF she
was a novice at plumbing but was eager to learn, says
construction supervisor Bill Riley, and she knew how to
use tools. And even though she took longer than anyone
else that afternoon to complete her plumbing test, her
project didn't leak while many others did. "I was sure it
had 50,000 leaks," recalls Altman, "and 1 was really
nervous and my heart was pounding." She was hired
that day.
The future? ETF hopes to start up a full service
energy company next spring staffed by the solar mech-
anics they are now training. Bedell envisions the
company as being a for-profit arm of ETF involved with
energy audits, weatherization, and boiler check-ups in
addition to installing and maintaining solar systems.
For Altman, the question of what to do when funding
for SUEDE runs out in July, 1980 is easy: "I want to
work with alternative energy. 1 don't know whether it's
going to happen. 1 don't want to sit in some office. 1
might feel differently when it's wintertime and it's 20
degrees and I'm up on some roof." 0
Selwyn Eiber is a VISTA volunteer with the Associa-
tionfor Neighborhood Development in East Harlem.
13
$250 SALES POLICY continued
asserted French. "And we're not interested in the city
suggesting that we are the idle rich down here ready to
make a windfall profit on our buildings. Unemployment
doesn't make you rich. We are a majority of low income
people struggling ~ o stay in our homes."
Although Clinton is viewed as a special neighborhood
that, like Chelsea and the Upper West Side, is changing
rapidly, city officials agree that these transitional
neighborhoods are problem areas for saving low income
housing.
"There's no question that Manhattan is getting to be
a problem area," said HPD's Sykes. "But you have to
look at it building-by-building. There are some no one
would touch. There are bad areas, and then there are
buildings where it would be crazy to sell for $250 ... We
have to protect low income people, but if you can't
draw the line somewhere, you'll have people coming in
and buying a $100,000 building for $10,000. It's an ex-
tremely difficult situation."
But another observer questioned the city's long-term
commitment to neighborhoods and their residents.
"We have to wonder if the Board of Estimate is so
pliable that it can be persuaded to accept a different
figure each week for selling the buildings," asked Brian
Sullivan of the Task Force on City-Owned Property.
"All this dancing around makes it and HPD look very
stupid, and you have to ask yourself if any of. these
officials would be willing to sign an agreement like the
one they're asking people to sign. 1 doubt it." 0
NEW PUBLICATIONS
Reforming The Community Development Program:
The Key To Housing Rehabilitation. Published by the
Community Service Society of New York, 105 East 22nd
St., New York, N.Y. The study examines the planning,
decision-making and implementation of the Fifth Year
Community Development Program and suggest reforms
to expedite use of the CD funds. Two housing pro-
grams, Participation Loan and Community Manage-
ment, are analyzed in depth.
Multi-Family Housing-Energy Conservation Work-
book. Available from the New York State Energy Of-
fice, Agency Building 2, Rockefeller Plaza, Albany,
N. Y. 12223. This is a guidebook in six sections designed
to help people assess opportunities for energy conserva-
tion. The sections are entitled: Energy Measures Cost
and Payback Table; Operational and Maintenance
Table; Energy Survey Worksheets; Energy Measures-
Operational/Maintenance and Modifications;
analytical Methods; Test Procedures. The workbook
says that based on past experience, it is not unusual to
discover energy savings as high as 25 per cent.
MEMORIES ARE ALL THAT REMAIN
OF ONE-TIME 'LITTLE PITTSBURGH'
by Penny Wolfson
Larry Rose is driving around East New York in his sil-
ver Cadillac. He is a large man with silver grey hair and
he knows this part of central Brooklyn like the back of
his hand.
He should. He was born and raised here and has run a
hardware distributing business in East New York's
industrial area for more than 40 years.
"See that block there?" he motions in his broad gen-
erous way. He is pointing to a small deserted street near
the Brownsville-East New York border, where several
ramshackle houses stand. "I was born there. I kept that
house a long time. I just sold it recently."
"And that," he continues as we drive past several
Housing Authority projects and burned-out blocks, "is
my elementary school. Lots of famous people went
there. Sam Levenson-he went to the other school, back
that way."
He drives past two large lots, overgrown with weeds.
"These were all apartment buildings. If you can imag-
ine. All up and down the block. Filled with buildings.
Now there's nothing."
"And there-" he points to the shells of two
buildings on opposite corners, one burned out, the other
vacant. "They were pharmacies. You couldn't buy them
for $100,000 in those days; they were worth that
much."
He sighs. We're on Sutter Ave. now, still a fairly live-
ly commercial block. "These were fancy stores. People
from all over would shop here. Beautiful stores."
You can see the remnants. A large clapboard house
that used to belong to a well-to-do doctor. But now the
porch slopes and some of the steps leading to the house
are broken. An industrial building that used to employ
dozens of East New Yorkers. Now the factory building
is empty and only a faded ins-:ription over the door gives
a hint of what it once was. Rows of well-kept one and
two-family homes, still sporting neat gardens and white
fences out front. But even these are marred by the
rotting building next door, the tinned windows, the
rubble-strewn lots that reveal steady, unalleviated
blight.
For the East New York Larry Rose grew up and pros-
pered in is a place of the past. The area, which straddles
the Brooklyn-Queens border, with Brownsville directly
to the west, and Woodhaven, Ocean Park and Howard
Beach to the east, was once a thriving Jewish and Italian
working-class community and a commercial center for
all of Brooklyn.
But fear, corruption and government incompetence
helped to drain the area of its resources. The block-bust-
ing efforts of the 50s and 60s, the influx of low-income
14
blacks and Puerto Ricans, who, displaced by urban re-
newal in Brownsville, flooded into East New York for
replacement housing, and the final death blow of the
FHA mortgage scandal, transformed East New York
into one of the city's most troubled neighborhoods.
Primarily because of its wealth of one and two-family
owner-occupied housing, East New York was the hard-
est-hit FHA-foreclosed area in the entire city. The FHA
program, which required low down-payments and in-
sured mortgagers against loss, encouraged unscrupulous
lending practices among corrupt speculators, brokers
and government agents, who falsified appraisals and
credit checks to rook unsuspecting buyers.
The FHA scandal left some 1,000 abandoned, vacant
and deteriorating homes in the East New York area.
About 3,000 homes in the area have come into city and
federal hands through tax and mortgage foreclosures.
In addition to the huge housing problem, East New
Yorkers must face another nagging difficulty: the loss of
businesses and jobs in an area that was once well
supplied with both. East New York, once called "Little
Pittsburgh"because of its heavy concentration of in-
dustry, has in the last 10 years, lost 1 ,000 of the 3,500
jobs it supported on its 75 acres of industrially zoned
land.
It was largely in response to these problems that the
East New York Development Corporation was formed
in 1968. The corporation, the result of a merger between
the East New York Community Association and the
East New York Industrial Corporation, represented a
mix of community interests-industrial, business, bank-
ing, community groups, social service organizations,
block associations, etc. The organization was headed by
John E. Williams, now director of the East New York
Mental Health C1inic,and Ullman Rosenfield, then an
executive for Ideal Corporation, the largest employer in
the area.
"We were trying," says Williams, now the president
of the corporation, "to bring some stability to the area
by forging a healthy marriage between community and
business interests. "
Since that time, some inroads have been made, pri-
marily in the area of housing. In 1973, ENYCD entered
into a "Sales Exclusivity" contract with HUD, under
which HUD rehabilitated and the corporation marketed
50 one- and two-family homes. The East New York Sav-
ings Bank provided the mortgage pool. Later the cor-
poration became the first group in the city to participate
in the Small Home Improvement Program (SHIP).
Under this program, HPD used CD funds to rehab 26
FHA-foreclosed one- to four-family homes in a six-
1
f
EAST NEW YORK continued
block target area bounded by Blake St., New Lots Ave.,
Pennsylvania Ave. and Bradford St. ENYDC selected
the tenants and sold the houses. In a second stage of the
SHIP program, which began this June, the corporation
will be both developer and marketing agent for 14 one-
to four-family homes within the target ~ r e a .
The group is 7 A Administrator for two buildings, and
will manage 150 housing units under the city's Manage-
ment in Partnership program. It is also negotiating with
HUD for the rehab of 45 multiple-dwelling units across
the street from Jefferson High School, a project for
which they have received tentative approval.
The corporation has also provided home ownership
and home repair counseling, as well as default and de-
linquent counseling for home owners having difficulty
keeping up with mortgage payments.
Yet even corporation members are not satisfied that
they have made a dent in the housing problem. "It's a
gigantic task," says ENYDC Chairman Rosenfield. "I
don't think, in spite of all that's been done, that we've
found a way to halt the decay."
The frustration of getting so little done in a commun-
ity that needs so much was one reason Martin J. Warm-
brand, ENYDC's director of seven years, finally
decided to resign last March. "One hundred and seventy
five homes were being abandoned each year," Warm-
brand says. "And we only managed to save 75 altoget-
her. It was immensely frustrating."
Some corporation members, like Marvin Bouzer, act-
ing director of the group, feel that city and federal gov-
ernment agencies have not been responsive enough to
the needs of this blighted community. Bouzer says the
group was bitterly disappointed that only 40 homes are
being rehabbed under the SHIP programs.The corpora-
tion had requested 100 under each of the two programs.
The corporation has been even more frustrated in the
area of economic development, where it has even less to
point to in the way of concrete accomplishments.
The corporation entertained a number of plans for
drawing industries to the "northwest quadrant" of East
New York, which is commercially zoned and has excel-
lent transportation facilities. Yet none of these plans,
which were to be handled by local Model Cities adminis-
trators, ever got off the ground.
The corporation has also been able to do very little
about the worst problem industry faces in East New
York: security. One of the chief reasons businesses have
left the area is because of crimes against property and
employees. The corporation did spark a coalition be-
tween the 75th Precinct, Citibank and a local gypsy cab
company which provides a civilian motor patrol. And
efforts have been made to beef up patrols by the police
precinct. But Rose says that security has not improved
much, that he doesn't see a single police car all day near
his business on Snediker Ave., and that businesses
around him are still con.cerned that they will be robbed
Penny Wolfson is a/ree/ance writer with an interest in
community news.
15
and that their employees will be endangered.
The precinct says it is experiencing the same problems
of precincts all over the city, rising crime and shrinking
manpower. "We're just not able to patrol areas the way
we used to," a spokesman from the community affairs
office of the 75th precinct says.
Still and all, the corporation is managing slowly and
surely to convince government agencies that East New
York can and should be salvaged. In the commercial
area, ENYDC has recently been awarded a grant of
$40,000 from the state to conduct an extensive survey of
business and industry in the area, the first step towards
revitalization.
In addition, the Port Authority of New York has
selected an area directly to the south of East New York's
Spring Creek Industrial Park (below Linden Boulevard)
as one of three sites in the city it will possibly develop as
an industrial area.
In the area of housing, East New York may also soon
have a real future to look forward to. The City Planning
Commission and the Housing Authority have come up
with a plan to revitalize the area through a program of
selective demolition and seal-up, maintenance of exist-
ing housing through the 312 loan program and the rehab
of FHA-foreclosed homes, and greening of interim
sites. 0
On a street targeted for revitalization, an abandoned building and a
house renovated under the SHIP program stand side-by-side. ENYDC
plans to rehab U more buildings under SHIP.
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J-51 continued
calling for a moratorium on using the J-51 legislation to
convert the hotels to small luxury apartments.
The J-51 program was instituted in 1955 as an incen-
tive to help owners of cold water tenements to comply
with the city's new building codes.
In an analysis of the program, Councilwoman Ruth
Messinger (D-Man.) said that "Over the years the pro-
gram was broadened to include the conversion of
commercial buildings and SRO's to apartments .. .
While the J-51 program was established to aid owners in
replacing boilers or plumbing in occupied buildings,
today the program is increasingly being used by devel-
opers who vacate a building and then perform a gut
[substantial] rehabilitation that turns a low or middle
income building into a lUxury building as the city pays
the bills. "
Joined by other J -51 critics, Messinger also charged
that developers take apartments that are suitable for
families and reduce them into small studio and one-bed-
room apartments that can be rented at much higher
rents. Examples of such rents on the Upper West Side,
for instance, begin at over $400 for a studio apartment.
In addition, the Councilwoman reported, "Develop-
ers have told me that J-51 benefits are so great that the
program encourages the rehabilitation of buildings that
are not structuarally suitable. Buildings may now be re-
ceiving gut rehabilitations due to the J-51 program where
the useful life of the building is less than the 20-year
period of benefits."
According to available statistics, more than 55 per
cent of the J-51 benefits are going to middle and upper
middle income neighborhoods such as Greenwich Vil-
lage, the East Side and the Upper West Side in Man-
hattan, and Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope in Brook-
lyn.
Certify Repairs
Councilman Leon Katz (D-Bklyn.) is supporting
amending legislatIon that would prohibit awarding J-51
benefits to Manhattan neighborhoods south of 60th
Street. Councilman Stanley Michels (D-Man.) is pro-
posing J-51 reforms that wou!J ask owners receiving the
benefits to certify each year that they had made certain
repairs and that their buildings' systems are in good
working order.
"If they did not do what they said they did," he
added, "they would be subject to a $1,000 fine. We
really shouldn't horse around with them ... The city is
not doing inspections of these buildings and it should.
This program, if used correctly, could benefit a number
of marginal neighborhoods, such as Washington
Heights and Crown Heights, where the older housing
stock needs help."
Other amendments proposed for the extended legis-
lation include prohibiting benefits to owners who harrass
tenants during the rehabilitation period, providing relo-
cation benefits for tenants who are displaced by renova-
tion, guaranteeing at least 20 per cent two-bedroom
16
apartments in a dwelling of more than 20 units after
rehabilitation, filing a statement of intent before con-
struction begins, and submitting complete and itemized
documentation of the costs for the work for which J -51
benefits will be claimed. At the present time, the city has
no system for monitoring the cost of repairs and im-
provements that owners claim to have made to their
properties.
In the meantime, organizations such as the Commun-
ity Housing Improvement Program (CHIP), which rep-
resents some 2,500 owners of more than 400,000 apart-
ment dwellings in New York City, have gone on record
supporting conversions that would displace some busi-
nesses through rehabilitation of non-residential build-
ings.
"We well understand that there is a problem with
respect to owners of commercial buildings evicting small
businessmen from loft space in order to convert these
structures to multiple dwellings," said William A.
Moses, chairman of CHIP. "However, much of this
loft space is inefficient, dilapidated and in need of con-
version to other usage. "
"This is why I'm very adamant about postponing
such a serious vote on J-51 until we know all the facts,"
argued Councilwoman Miriam Friedlander (D-Man.) in
an interview. "There are just too many unanswered
questions ... This whole issue of moderate rehabilitation
is sticky ... Is a moderate rehab closing down the boiler
for three months in the winter time while the tenants
freeze? . .. Is a conversion closing down 600 jobs in
small business for the unskilled and semi-skilled on
limited incomes that need these jobs? We need to know
a lot more before we extend these benefits. J-51 cannot
be treated lightly."
Repeated efforts to speak with Housing Committee
Chairman Thomas Manton, who has introduced the
proposed legislation at the request of the mayor, proved
fruitless. 0
DISPLACEMENT SEARCH
A new Anti-Displacement Project connected with the
National Housing Law Project is interested in hearing
from people and organizations who have information
based on experience with this issue.
The research will report on the nature and extent of
displacement throughout the United States and will pro-
duce an Action Guide offering community groups prac-
tical advice on how to resist displacement-causing activ-
ities.
Out of the Anti-Displacement Project may emerge a
national conference and permanent network.
The people to contact are Chester Hartman, 360 Eliz-
abeth St., San Francisco, Cal., 94114 (415) 282-1249, or
Ellsworth Morgan, P.O. Box 8211, Newark, N.J. ,
07108. Studies or other research materials should be
sent to Hartman. 0
1
HEW REFUSES CfI' PlEA TO EXPAND
lWO-PARTY WELFARE RENT CHECKS
The federal government has turned down New York
City'S request to place thousands of additional welfare
recipients on a two-party check system where their rents
would be paid automatically to the landlord.
The decision by the Department of Health Education
and Welfare was a victory for welfare and tenants rights
organizations that had contended the required rent
payments would be a windfall for landlords, deprive
tenants of their legal right to control their incomes and
not result in better housing.
Deputy Mayor Nathan Leventhal made it clear that
the city has no intention of dropping the two-party
check plan. Leventhal told City Limits on Sept. 26 that
he expected to include the proposal-as is-on a list
requested by the White House of actions pending in
Washington that could be helpful to New York City.
HEW's decision was based on "technical grounds," he
said.
In proposing the "demonstration" more than a year
ago, Mayor Koch listed three reasons: housing is deter-
iorating severely; more than $500 million of public
funds goes toward shelter for welfare recipients, and
some welfare recipients do not pay their rent. "A pro-
gram to require welfare clients to pay their rent in return
for improved building maintenance will benefit tenants
and owners alike," he said.
Under a two-party check system,. rent checks cannot
be cashed without the signatures of both the tenant and
the landlord. Refusal by the tenant to sign can result in a
direct payment to the landlord, called a vendor check.
Opponents of the demonstration say welfare tenants
are the victims, not the cause, of slum housing. Thous-
ands of rent-paying welfare tenants live in intolerable
housing, they argue, and guaranteed rent payment
removes the only real incentive landlords have to pro-
vide services-a fear of not getting the money. In addi-
tion, the demonstration was attacked for how it pro-
posed to put recipients onto two-party checks.
An HEW spokesman in Washington said the demon-
stration was rejected because the proposal contained no
evidence that the increased cash flow to landlords would
be large enough to significantly upgrade the buildings; it
identified no control group of tenants to allow a com-
parison of delinquency rates among welfare and non-
welfare tenants; and it set no mechanism for weighing
separately the impac of promised code inspections and
the impact of the two-party checks themselves. "As far
as I know, I think it's a dead issue at this point," the
spokesman said.
In addition to tenant and welfare rights organiza-
tions, many elected officials, the New York City chapter
of the National Association of Social Workers, the re-
17
gional head of HEW and officials of the Department of
Housing and Urban Development opposed the plan.
Former HEW Secretary Joseph Califano was reportedly
ready to approve it, but left the decision to Patricia
Harris, who succeeded him as part of President Carter's
cabinet shakeup in July. She is said to have carefully re-
viewed the proposal.
There are 355,000 families and single persons in New
York City who receive public assistance-250,OOO under
the federally funded Aid to Families with Dependent
Children and 105,000 under the state's Home Relief
program. Restricted checks are now issued to 40,000 re-
cipients under AFDC and to 10,500 under HR, accord-
ing to city figures.
HEW approval of the demonstration would have en-
abled New York City to place thousands of welfare ten-
ants in two areas of the West Bronx on two-party checks
by liberalizing the conditions under which such a step
can be taken and by lifting the existing ceiling on the
number of recipients whose control over benefits can be
restricted.
In creating the AFDC program, Congress established
the principle that poor people have the same right to
control their incomes as other Americans. Therefore,
recipient control of AFDC benefits may be restricted
only when there has been a finding by the public assist-
ance agency that the adult recipient has not managed the
income consistent with the welfare of the children.
Welfare rights groups have long maintained that New
York disregards the law by placing tenants on two-party
checks on the landlord's sayso, without asking recipi-
ents if the rent has been paid and, if not, why not. Fur-
thermore, they argue, since welfare benefits have not
gone up since 1974-when only a small increase based
on 1972 cost-of-living figures was granted-failure to
pay a month's rent may not be improper if the money
was used for some other important purpose, such as
medical bills. They saw the demonstration as a further
extension of this policy.
Asked to respond to this claim of illegal practices,
State Social Services Commissioner Barbara Blum said,
"My belief is that this is not the current practice." Blum
said she supported the demonstration because she be-
lieved it would lead to better housing and because many
welfare clients have not had success using rent-with-
holding to "leverage the system."
Asked about HEW's criticism of the design of the
demonstration, Blum said, "We felt additions would
have strengthened the proposal, but the city felt that
control was not feasible, and they were anxious to get
something up fast." 0
WINTER continued
150 per cent. Other officials say the reality is that there
is not going to be nearly enough money to take care of
those who qualify at 125 per cent. Using the lower fig-
ure, officials estimate that there are 733,000 eligible
people in New York City. One guess is that maybe 10 per
cent of them will be assisted with the available funds .
Another kind of measure suggested by one state official
is that it cost about $100 to heat one room per year at
April, 1979 prices. With the fuel price increase, that fig-
ure will be about $150 per room by this winter. That
means a four-room apartment will cost $600, or $200
more than the maximum payment under the program.
A second serious problem is that the regulations were
obviously not drafted with renters in mind. Last year,
applicants had to show a disconnect or turnoff notice
and then the money was paid to the vendor, not the
applicant. That hampers relief for tenants, whose heat is
included in their rent. However, tenants are billed sepa-
rately for gas and electric, but there is concern that by
making utility bills eligible, the program gives tenants
incentives to buy space heaters or to use their stoves for
heat, both dangerous options.
To improve the program for tenants, state and city
officials were working on a possible plan that would
enable landlords of multiple-dwelling apartment build-
ings in low income census tracts to obtain assistance
based on the number of their income-eligible tenants so
long as there was an agreement by the owner to provide
necessary repairs to the building and not pass along the
fuel costs to the tenants. One official said this would
require exemption from the federal regulations, which
require recipients to be income-eligible.
These are some of the major problems that remained
unresolved two weeks before the deadline for submitting
the state energy plan to Washington.
WEATHERIZATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM-
This program was set up to protect buildings housing
lower income people from the effects of cold weather
and to conserve energy by providing funds for insulat-
ing, sealing air leaks, weatherstripping windows, re-
placing broken window panes, improving heating
systems and other forms of weatherization. This pro-
gram, too, has had serious difficulty in spending its
money. More than $1 million, enough to have weather-
ized more than 2,800 apartments, was available for New
York City well before last winter. It was not until this
spring that some of the money began to be spent, on 18
projects totalling 759 units . When that money has been
expended, an additional $7.9 million for 9,500 more
units will be available for New York City. A major share
of the funds is earmarked for a "demonstration" that
attempts to circumvent regulations that make the pro-
gram extremely difficult to implement in large, multiple
family buildings. The operative guideline in the demon-
stration will be that if 75 per cent of the tenants in a
building qualify, then the entire building is eligible for
up to $800 per unit in weatherization improvements.
18
The target date for beginning the work is January, 1980.
The funds for this program come from the U.S.
Department of Energy through the state's Department
of State. Officials said an effort would be made to co-
ordinate the weatherization and the crisis payments pro-
grams so that buildings in which tenants were receiving
assistance would also benefit from improved energy
conservation.
SPECIAL ENERGY ALLOWANCES-President
Carter has asked Congress to approve $1.2 billion for
the first time to provide lump-sum payments to public
assistance recipients through such programs as Supple-
mental Security Income, Aid to Families with
Dependent Children and assistance to disabled persons.
In New York State, it would provide one-time increases
of $116 for single individuals and $232 for families.
Carter's request is contained in a supplemental appro-
priations bill for Fiscal Year 1980. Asked about its
chances, U.S. Department of Health, Education and
Welfare official said, "There is no one who is not con-
cerned. I can't imagine Congress not enacting it. It
could be done in two days."
She said there is nothing in the bill to prevent public
assistance recipients from receiving the benefits of both
this program and the Crisis Assistance Program.
EMERGENCY REPAIR PROGRAM-Under this
city-run program, tenants living in heatless apartments
can call a 24-hour central complaint telephone number
-960-4800. Once a city inspector responds to verify the
complaint, the landlord has 24 hours to correct the
problem or the city will step in to restore the heat and
bill the landlord for the repair or fuel delivered. Last
year, $5.1 million was budgeted for ERP and $7.7
million was spent making 22,454 repairs, a 22 per cent
increase over the prior year's workload. This year, $6.1
million is budgeted, but HPD says it will probably need
closer to $7.5 million. Owners of all multiple dwellings,
plus anyone and two-family homes that had heat prob-
lems last year, must certify to the city that their heating
plants are either in good condition or will be within a
fixed time period. These certifications must be sub-
mitted to HPD by October 22. As of late September,
about half of the 140,000 owners had filed, according to
the agency. According to the mayor's Management
Report for FY 1980, the average for completing repairs
under ERP was slightly under two weeks.
IN REM BUILDINGS-New York City owns and
manages 4,086 occupied buildings. Of the 3,000 that are
multiple-dwelling buildings, HPD estimates that there
are about 2,200 separate heating plants. To provide heat
to some 33,000 tenants, this year the city figures it will
need about 35 million gallons of fuel oil at a cost of
$27 .7 million, for which federal Community Develop-
ment funds cannot be used. About 25 million gallons
will be needed between October and March alone.
Since last spring, teams of city inspectors have evalu-
ated 1,800 of the estimated 2,200 heating plants, leading
WINTER continued
to major repair orders for 940 of them and less extensive
repairs to 318, according to a recent report by HPD. A
full picture of the condition of the heating plants from
the report is hampered by the fact that this information
was omitted on many of the summary sheets submitted
by the burner repair teams to central HPD. Raymond
was careful to note the limitations of effectively evalu-
ating burners and boilers under summer conditions and
said the real test will be in December and January. "We
have no illusions about the problems we face this
winter," he added.
A substantial portion of this year's crisis assistance
funds appears to be headed for the city. A pool of $1.25
million (half of it crisis assistance funds from CDA and
half CD funds from HPD) will be used to repair heating
plants and do some weatherization in 500 city-owned
buildings. This works out to $2,500 per building. An
additional $535,000 in crisis assistance funds (which
HPD will match in the form of repairs) will help the city
offset some of last winter's fuel costs. Negotiations be-
tween HPD and the state for a similar arrangement
using $1.87 million in crisis assistance funds are going
on currently.
Raymond said HPD is trying to get several million
dollars in DOE funds to do additional weatherization,
plans to replace the heating plants ($15,000 to $25,000
each) in 120 buildings, has put all of its real estate
managers through a maintenance training program, is
installing dampers that will help to contain heat norm-
ally lost through the chimney and may experiment with
installing electric heat transfer panels in a few buildings. D
GROWTH PART II continued
Finally, many progr:ams turn out to be difficult to
implement because of poor design. A federal low inter-
est loan program to finance sweat equity housing rehab-
ilitation in New York City had to undergo 19 major
changes before it was usable, according to one partici-
pant in the program. The six-year-old community man-
agement program is only now establishing guidelines
and standards for productivity.
What this adds up to, in the minds of many people, is
an orientation away from capacity building, and that,
they say, is a formula for failure. Critics say a lot of the
responsibility lies with the funding sources, and that
government generally is more concerned with making
sure its money is all spend than in assisting in building
up the capacity of community groups to fulfill all their
contract requirements. Some suspect there is a lot the
government does not want to see.
Many in government agree, but say there is not much
that can be done. "It is my general belief that to rely on
this agency for technical assistance is a mistake," said
St. Georges. "It is in the nature of government to start
programs, spend money and produce something,"
leaving no time for capacity building.
"Too often we just give the money away," said Karen
19
Kollias of HUD's Office of Neighborhoods, Voluntary
Associations and Consumer Protection in Washington ..
There is some burden on the federal government, she
added, to be sensitive to the problems of meeting its
requirements and to provide the necessary financial and
technical assistance to strengthen the organization. She,
too, said there are limits to what government can really
do. Many cited the need for more and better technical
assistance at the local level.
Not all government agencies and programs are insen-
sitive, of course. Two of the better ones, according to
those in the field, are the Neighborhood Housing Ser-
vices program (sponsored by the federal Neighborhood
Reinvestment Corp., a quasi-governmental agency),
which provides incremental funding rather than unload-
ing large grants, and the federal agency ACTION,
which gives seed money to help groups plan for how to
use larger amounts. The CETA (Comprehensive
Employment and Training Act) and Law Enforcement
Assistance Administration programs were cited as either
tending to understate costs or overwhelm organizations.
Kollias said a new HUD program lets community organ-
izations, rather than the government, decide what the
funds should be used for. "It makes it harder for us,"
she said, "but more beneficial for the people out
there."
There is no simple solution for the problems associ-
ated with growth since community organizations have
different goals and structures and since key factors lie
outside their control. There is plenty of room for differ-
ences over approach and priorities. But interviews with
more than a score of people on both the giving and
receiving ends have produced general agreement on a
number of recommendations.
ORGANIZATIONS-Organizations need to have a
clear set of goals and a plan for achieving them. This
will help them decide what programs are useful and
what are not. A stable and well informed board of direc-
tors that sets policy, a staff of local people augmented
by some specialists and a cohesiveness among the var-
ious units will greatly enhance productivity. Going into
contract negotiations knowing the full cost of running
the proposed program will avoid having to rob the trea-
sury later. Knowing when capacity has been reached will
stop the group from taking on too many programs.
Being open to training for new skills and restructuring
the organization will smooth the transition. "The real
solution has to come from inside the groups," said Juan
Rodriguez-Munoz, of PRC Metronamics Inc., a consul-
tant. "Groups have to take themselves to task, to deal
with their problems and provide the opportunity for
staff and board to have the capacity to handle growth
problems."
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE-Most organizations
will need large amounts of both administrative and pro-
grammatic assistance as they grow. Assistance should be
based on what the group determines its needs are. In
groups where the board is from the community, where
personal development and education are priorities and
where those who are making policy and those who are
being trained are the same people, standard manage-
ment models may not work. There is a lack of well-tail-
ored technical assistance. The most well known t.a.
groups say they are already overcommitted. Others may
be underutilized because their services are not well pub-
licized. A directory of technical assistance listing 1,SOO
resource organizations in New York City will be pub-
lished soon by Public Interest Public Relations, Inc.,
and may help to alleviate the problem. Training is
essential.
FUNDING SOURCES-Foundations and govern-
ment agencies need to be more aware of the costs assoc-
iated with running their programs. The chronic problem
of delayed payments has a costly and disruptive impact
on organizations. Funding sources need to look more
carefully at what the organization really needs to carry
through on its programs. "Foundations and funding
sources relate better to someone who generates publicity
but that is not necessarily the best person to manage the
funds," said DeRienzo, who is director of the Banana
Kelly Community Improvement Association. They have
to walk a thin line between interfering with the organi-
zation and making sure that the money is spent effect-
ively. In an effort to satisfy the clamor of groups to play
a larger role in neighborhood rebuilding, "perhaps we
have not looked at the substantive questions," said
Phillips.
Neighborhood rebuilding at the grass roots level is
still in its infancy. If the number of studies of commun-
ity organizations currently under way (by HUD, Ford
Foundation, the Urban Institute and the New World
Foundation to name some) is any indication, then very
little is known about who the groups are,
what they are doing, what their needs are and what can
be done to help. To many, the problems of growth are
still preferable to the problems of getting started. But
much will depend on how the trilnsition is handled, and
at least one observer has predicted that if the non-
profits are unable to pick up the mantle, private enter-
prise may move back in. It won't be easy. .
"The director's job in a growing organization that IS
attracting attention is one of the hardest jobs in the City
of New York," said Doug Moritz, deputy director of
Los Sures, a Brooklyn community group. "It's trying to
do what everyone else has declared as hopeless-the re-
vitalization of an urban ghetto, and showing something
can be done with limited funds, and training board and
staff whose heart and head are in the right place but
who have no substantive skills, and trying to lead an
organization into battle with what everyone else has de-
clared is a hopeless situation, with public funds which
are the hardest to procure and use efficiently. And no
matter what you do, it's always wrong. .
" Those who have survived deserve much more credit
20
than most other people in the city." 0
There is a growing awareness of the need to plan
better for growth. Anyone interested in participating in
a conference on this subject should contact Ron S hiff-
man at the Pratt Center for Community and Environ-
mental Development 636-3486.
SMALL BUILDINGS continued
tenants to vacate.
Weaver was lucky. He found a rent stabilized apart-
mentaftersix weeks of searching and now pays $404.23
per month for security, sun and a great view. "I'd never
live any place where I had no rights, and I don't intend
to do so again. It doesn't really pay to be friendly with a
landlord." Casey agrees . "This building is just an in-
vestment for them. They're not at all interested in
having a friendly relationship with tenants. No repairs
are made, no accommodation given; they're scrimping
not because they're not getting enough profit, but
because they want to put money in their country h6me."
One major improvement for tenants in small build-
ings is the Retaliatory Eviction bill recently passed by
the New York State Legislature. As of September 1, it is
illegal to evict tenants who complain to the authorities
of building violatioris, form tenant associations or
otherwise legally defend themselves against harassment
or curtailment of services. Unfortunately, the law
exempts owner-occupied buildings with fewer than four
units, presumably on the assumption that under these
conditions of proximity the landlord views him/ herself
more as an occupant than an owner. While this is often
the situation, the "family" closeness can intensify ten-
sion and heighten the sense of assault on either side, if a
problem arises.
The Temporary Commission on Rental Housing has
voted against recommending to the Legislature that rent
stabilization protections be extended to three-to-five-
unit buildings, and for phasing out rent control for the
few remaining tenants in -5rualler I pre-1947 buildings, in-
cluding the elderly, who make up a large proportion of
this tenant population. The Commission will recom-
mend vacancy decontrol for all owner-occupant six-unit
buildings.
A strongly dissenting minority report by the tenant-
representative commissioners will attack these recom-
mendations and argue that decontrol is a red herring for
small owners in marginal or deteriorating neighbor-
hoods and that the real issues are bank and insurance
redlining, cutbacks in municipal services and the infla-
tionary economy, devastating both for tenants on re-
stricted incomes and for landlords with rising main-
tenance costs and receding access to credit. 0
Joan M. Brinton is a staff member of Peoples Housing
Network. She has worked extensively with small build-
ings and lives in one in Brooklyn.
CRANKING
THE WIND!
21
The Bronx Frontier Development Corporation has
erected a 40 kilowatt wind energy conversion system on
the banks of the East River in the Hunts Point section of
the Bronx. Most people would call it a windmill, but the
term is technically incorrect since producing electricity,
not grinding grain, is the function of the system.
It is the most powerful electricity producing wind tur-
bine in New York City, according to Curtis Suerth, who
is the director of research development. The project cost
$36,000 and was funded by the federal Community Ser-
vices Administration and the Department of Energy.
Electricity generated by the wind turbine will be used
for a composting. project. Bronx Frontier plans to use
the enriched topsoil to help in .the redevelopment of the
South Bronx where there is much open space in the form
of rubble filled lots. Most of the organic materials that
are composted are vegetable wastes from the nearby
Hunts Point Market.
Suerth anticipates that the wind energy conversion
system is capable of producing enough electricity for a
20-family building. Surplus electricity will be fed back
to Consolidated Edison, which will have to pay Bronx
Frontier for the energy.
The system was first tested on September 28 and it is
still undergoing the final stages of construction. It
should be operational for the dedication festival on
October 26. 0
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IN THIS ISSUE
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Growth Part II
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Small Buildings
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